Chapter 38 – The breaking storm
With Ellie holding his head beneath her breasts, Ben lost track of how long he was like that. Images of not just Emily, but his whole family flashed in his thoughts, his father smiling as he showed him the collection of his books for the first time. Thomas Walker Sr. was an avid reader, and a writer too if his work as a doctor allowed. Adora, his mother, appeared in his memories with blurred face, he could hardly remember it. Only thing he remembered was that she was rarely at their home in St. Louis. His father loved her a lot, he'd always express it, even after her death when Tom was born. Tom, his brother with a smile that never faded away and wide-eyes when he'd see anything interesting. He's dead because of Ben. Emily… captured by Wolves. Dead too, probably. Because of Ben. Again. Pictures of graves, cold and lonely in a row. There were no tears in him, he couldn't cry, but he could still feel. He felt so much. When he finally pulled back, the two of them were still alone. He was glad the others were not there to watch him like that, defeated and crumbled. Ellie was bad enough, but in a way he was glad she had stayed, he only wished she had not seen or heard how hurt he was. Taking his hand in hers, Ellie sat in the next chair. She was so beautiful, with her large green eyes, freckled face and auburn, short hair that reached the tip of her nose and well over ears.
"Have you given up the thought of going at them alone?" she asked. There was no hint in her voice that she had just watched him lying broken in her arms.
"It seems it wouldn't do any good, they are after me, anyway. Emily…" He quickly loosened his grip on her hands, but she smiled instead of wincing. "I have to get her free, if she's alive. Maybe someone will go with me I don't know, but the horde…"
"I'm very glad you see that," she told him dryly. "Any more foolish ideas?"
"No." He braced himself for the storm, but she simply nodded as if the one word were what she expected and all she wanted. A small thing, nothing worth arguing over.
"Well, at least you're not going to wander off alone. It became kind of a habit to you." Ellie sighed, leaning backwards on her chair, releasing his hand. He wished she held it a bit longer. "We can't spare anyone, you know that. Not with the horde lurking outside our gates."
"I can't wait that long, Ellie." He said, "That means one more day of torture, one more day of agony for her. She's my sister."
"I know. We'll figure it out, somehow. If what you said is true, then the horde might be here by nightfall. You can't go out before, anyway. You need to rest."
Ben shook his head, "There's no time for that."
"Ben." Ellie said sharply, cutting off every sentence he meant to say, "You're hurt. You're tired. Rest for some time, okay?"
The tone of her voice managed to remind him of how tired he actually was. Five long days of walking, running, fighting and all over again do manage to drain a man completely. "Just for two hours."
Ellie smirked at him, "Okay. I'll wake you up later. Now go and sleep. You need it."
x
Ben opened his eyes slowly, staring up at the dark ceiling. It took a moment to realize he was in a bed, lying on a soft mattress with a blanket over him and a pillow under his head. His head was too heavy when he first tried to lift it up. It was dark inside, there was no light coming through the windows. Windows, there were no windows, and the only source of light was the dim table lamp in the corner of the room. This room, he looked around, noticing similar order of objects and the garage-turned-home look of the interior. This was Ellie's place. He was so tired he barely remembered telling her he did not want to go to his house because it reminded him of Emily. So, Ellie gave him the keys to her place. Now it made sense. It was warm inside, fireplace was burning brightly, Ellie probably kept the fire going while he was sleeping.
When he moved, he felt pain in his ribs, a sharpness in his nose, and his vision blurred almost immediately. His head felt as it was constantly exploding. He cooled down from the trip and pain finally settled in. Annabel was not there, at least for now, leaving him alone to enjoy the sound of crackling fireplace. It occurred to him, she was always silent when he knew Ellie was there. He knew he didn't have the luxury to enjoy the peace when the door opened and Ellie walked inside. She had changed to a darker clothing, a winter jacket and jeans as usual, just the darker shade. The rifle was slung over her right shoulder and pistol holstered at her waist. It was Joel's revolver.
"Just meant to wake you up." She said softly. He reached toward the white pitcher on the small table beside the bed, and she hurriedly poured a cup of water and gave it to him. "I'd say you need to rest for another two or three days, but we don't have that time."
Throwing off the blanket, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, wobbling to his feet. The way Ellie raised an eyebrow when she looked at him made him remember that he was shirtless. For some reason, she kept her eyes on him as he hurriedly reached for his shirt, pulling it over his head.
"Ben…" she said, her voice almost silent, and disturbed. "Those scars-"
"It's fine." He cut her off as kindly as he could, giving her a reassuring smile as he stood up. "Don't worry about it."
"Does it hurt?"
"No." he lied. Sometimes, it hurt. Sometimes, it didn't. What Annabel did to him will always hurt. "Really, it doesn't."
Ellie was now used to giving him sad looks, but the way she looked at him shook him. Whatever she wanted to say to him, she kept it to herself, and Ben kind of preferred it that way. He was in no mood for questions about Seattle. He was never in a mood for that.
"Come on, then. Dress up and meet me outside." She told him and walked away. Ben frowned at her back as she hurried across the room and vanished through the door to the outside. He tucked his shirt in before donning the hoodie over it, muttering under his breath. He was upset Ellie got to see the scars, but what's done was done. The time for regret was later. Picking up his gray poncho from the end of the bed, he walked outside.
In front of the stables, several patrolmen gathered on their hoses, Julia and Cat sitting on the saddles, reining their horses close to each other, telling each other something. Julia's face lightened up when she saw him, and she cracked a smile at him. She was eyeing him for a while for some reason, he was sure about it now. Miles, Mark and Noah, the other survivors from their ill-fated mission to clean out the infected were also there. Upon seeing Ben, Mark straightened himself up in the saddle, with his bow on his back and a pistol at his hip, looking proud as an idiot, waving at Ben. Ben heard him say, "He is as cold as a winter pond. Like ice. Maybe it won't be so bad today." Whatever he meant by that, Ben couldn't understand nor did he try to understand.
Walking slowly along the ranks, Ben felt several eyes following him, many of which were children's. He could almost scent the fear in the air, and worry too; the children showed it on their too-pale faces, but all smelled of it. He walked to where Maria, the sniper John and several others in command of Jackson security stood together.
"We have planned this out," John the bald sniper said, looking towards Ben as if he expected an argument and did not intend to allow it. He was always a stubborn man, but still, he was the best sniper in the town after Tommy, which made him the best sniper in the settlement since Tommy was dead. As far as Ben remembered, John was in charge of tower sentries, the one responsible for making the schedules and forming pairs of sentries. Safe to say, he was one of the veterans. And it was usually that the older ones knew what to do. The older ones. Boys and girls as much as twelve years old had toddlers strapped on their backs, and held smaller children by the hand. He noticed several kids climbing to the rooftops.
"Feeling better?" Maria asked him when she realized he was standing next to her after almost two minutes. She reeked of booze. "Glad to see that."
John as if recognized what Ben wanted to say and stepped closer towards him, pointing at the kids on the rooftops, "It's the safest spot for them. If those fuckers break in, kids will rain fire and arrows at them from the roofs. Another one of Ellie's ideas."
"Another one?" Ben asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.
John scoffed as if it was obvious as day and night, "Most of this is her idea, exactly. Kids on the roofs, archery training, stakes outside the walls and so on. Of course, she didn't do all the work herself, but that girl contributed heavily to our defenses. Joel taught her well."
He was not aware of that. So Ellie was the one who planned this out. In a way, he knew she had it in her. "If you'll excuse me," he said and walked away, followed by their approving nods. Standing on one of the towers, Ben could only shake his head. He did not know what to make of his first view of the settlement. Well, not exactly the first, but when he came back with Mark, Jesse and Dina, he was tired and blind to anything around him, focused only straight forward. The trees, fences and hedges closest to the settlement were simply gone, cleared away. The forest's brim stood five hundred paces away. Row on row of waist-high stakes, driven into the ground at an angle, surrounded the settlement a little out from the walls and presented a continuous hedge of sharpened points, except where the road ran in. At intervals behind the stakes men stood like sentries, some wearing kevlars over their jackets or bits of other defensive equipment, with rifles, guns, bows and even spears and hooks fitted to long poles. Other men, and boys, were up on the sentry towers with their own weaponry, many carrying bows because of the lack of the ammo. It was a worrying fact, the lack of firepower. But that'll had to do.
"I told you the settlement was getting ready to defend itself." Ellie sounded fiercely proud, "They are ready, Ben. We are ready."
Ben could only shake his head, it was still surreal. Each tower held about twenty sharpshooters, carrying either rifle or a bow, Ellie and Ben surrounded by nearly two dozen of them as well. The hard-packed dirt streets were nearly crowded enough for what he imagined would be a big city in the past, even at this time of the night, the gaps between houses closest to the walls filled with wagons and carts, and through open doors and unshuttered windows he could see more people. Some of them were looking at him from below, but only some, before turning their eyes away.
"Will," Ben whispered to Ellie, leaning against the wooden pole, "Does he know?"
Ellie nodded, "Yeah, I told him a while after you went to sleep. He… um, didn't take it well. He wants to go out for her."
"Can't blame him," Ben said with a smile, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "After this… you know I won't stay here, Ellie."
"I know. But you won't go alone."
He smiled at her, "Stepper, my horse. I had so many thoughts on my mind I didn't even ask."
"Your horse is fine," She grinned at him, "He's a little too quiet, even for my taste. I could never notice when he was there unless I look."
"He's a bit like me in that regard."
"Yep. A bit too much, don't you think?"
He shrugged, "Maybe."
"The infected!" The cry from came from one of the towers, echoed by a dozen different voices. "The infected! The horde is here!"
Ben frowned at the forest shrouded in darkness, leaning forward over the fence as if that would help him to see better. Those that formed the ranks behind the stakes surrounding the wall shifted nervously, eyes on the danger in front. Several minutes passed, and a single runner stepped into the clearing in front of the settlement walls. Whatever was going on, it was clearly not an attack. Yet. Ben could see men, women and children in the crowd beneath the wall, and the shouts have died down to a murmur like echo of the geese. Ellie kept close to him, watching him.
The babbling crowd did appear to contain nearly everyone in the settlement, all jammed shoulder to shoulder, armed and ready to fight, but still terrified. Half of these people haven't fought in a long while. They got used to a comfort behind the wall way too much.
"A runner. Only one." Ellie said, her eyes resting on the scenery below the walls, a single runner wandering zig-zag towards the gate. With a swish, its head bent backwards when the arrow hit the mark, killing it instantly. Ellie didn't even blink, neither did others. "Where are the others? I have to check those guarding the gate. I have a bad feeling."
"Mind telling me why you posted them in front of the gates instead on the inside?"
Wooden stairs creaked as they walked down, "The towers can hold only so many of us. We can't shoot them all down from the towers, and I'm afraid it's just a matter of time until they break through the gate."
The pieces of the puzzle slowly went back into their places, "You're saying we need to thin their numbers as much as we can before they overrun the settlement."
"Exactly. But…" she suddenly stopped, turning to him. "People will die, Ben. Many will die."
He thought long and hard what to say to this. "I know, but there's no other way. Focus on leading them." That was all he could muster up. She looked at him for a few seconds, as if expecting him to say something else, to add something more. When he didn't, she continued outside.
Behind the sharp stakes facing the northern forest, men crouched with their spears and polearms fashioned by William, who was there in his blackmith's vest with a rifle and an axe sheathed under his belt. Behind them stood the men and women with bows and rifles in ranks, Maria walking along slowly to speak with each one of them.
Ben stopped by William, "If there's one of them, it means others are nearby. Keep a sharp eye."
"We'll watch." William said in a low, but determined voice. "And I'm ready to send half these men wherever they're needed. The horde will not find our folk easy meat." Will's grin was a faint reminder of his personality. The man would smile even through the toughest of times, especially if it meant helping someone and pushing others forward. He could see it in his eyes, though, his pain because Emily was not there. I'll find her, I swear. To Ben's surprise, others raised a ragged cheer as he walked by with Ellie, shouting, "It's Ellie!" and now and then, "Great job, Ellie!"
"We Jackson folk are a tougher lot than most know," one of the men said to Ben, clutching his rifle tightly and with a smile on his face. He was smiling in the face of the battle. "It was all Ellie's idea, the palisades and such. She even trained some of us to be archers, as much as she could in these couple days."
Ellie waved it off, embarrassed and red in the face. Ben smirked at her. His mocking will know no ends if they live through the night. If they do. He looked around himself. Half of the people were joking and laughing, yet no one expected an easy day, all of them wore stony determination like cloaks. It was at this point that the fiercest of fights would take place. Looking through the open gates, Ben could only gasp at the people gathered. With everyone at one place, it seemed hard to believe that Jackson housed so many of them. Several hundreds of different faces. So many faces Ben knew in those waiting ranks of men, women and children. Old man Ron with his bird always resting on his shoulder, now stood there with the rest holding his hunting rifle. There was stocky Noah with his bald cousin whose name Ben didn't know and dark haired Mark, who nodded at Ben in his way of showing respect each time he saw him, armed with a pistol and a bow. Miss Grimrose, who made the best raspberry jam in the whole settlement, was also there with her three daughters. Miles and Daryl, two dark-skinned cousins who came to Jackson not too long ago, didn't seem very eager to fight, but they knew they had to, as did everyone. Cat and Julia were with them, with Julia shooting several glances at Ben, as if she wanted to come to tell him something, but she kept in place. Robin and Peter Chang, Jesse's parents were also there and countless others. Lea, the Gypsy woman was also there with the rest. She'd fight too.
Making himself to stop counting them, Ben glanced at Ellie who was scanning the dark forest to the north. Silence still largely ruled in the atmosphere. "I'll stay here, in the front." He said. Ellie turned to face him, shooting worried gazes at him, her eyebrows furrowing more and more with each second.
"Are you sure? You're a good shooter, we can use you on the tower."
"I am. I want to stay here, they need as much help as they can get."
"Okay." She said, already resigning any attempt to fight him. "Be careful, Ben."
He cracked a smile at her and stared at her back as she walked back through the gate with Maria. The gate was supposed to remain open until they fell back, after which it would be closed shut. It was already reinforced with another layer of wood, which would then be reinforced further with long logs to hold it tighter once closed. They might just stand a chance. On the noise of footsteps behind him, Ben turned over his shoulder seeing Mark, Noah, Miles and his cousin Daryl.
"We decided to help." Mark exclaimed, clutching his bow tightly.
Noah nodded gruffly, "Yeah, um, them kids and rest depend on us."
Ben nodded and patted Mark's shoulder, "Good. Brace yourselves, it won't be easy."
"We know." Miles said nervously, shifting from leg to leg. Ben looked at the runner's corpse. Where there's one, there are others. He saw Ellie up above on one of the towers, leaning on the wooden pole, keeping a watchful eye on the clearing. The snow was not falling that night, it was quiet and calm. A dead sound of silence. The clear sky illuminated the whitewashed land, providing everyone with a bit more light than usual in this hour of the night.
"RYARGH" The guttural roar rose like thunder, and the horde appeared, staggering into the fields beyond the walls. A hulking, black mass, deep and stretching the length of the settlement. Hundreds or perhaps thousands of them packed together, faces distorted by the fungus, clothing torn and tattered, a seemingly endless sea of them.
"ARYARGH"
Ben would not have thought that was any word, just a mix of voices, so many of them speaking something incomprehensive to human ears. Does it mean anything?, he thought, sincerely doubting it meant. Not that he had any idea what it meant if it even meant something.
The sharpshooters stood in a formation at the sentry towers, twenty of them at each tower. Ellie smoothed her jacket nervously, taking in a deep breath. "Be ready!" She called. Her voice was steady. Around Ben, on the ground, people shifted nervously. Some of them muttered silent prayers. There was no more laughter, no more smiles and cracking of jokes. The black tide of the countless infected rolled forward, howling wordlessly. The hope seemed to diminish upon the numbers of the infected.
"At four hundred paces…" All along the ranks on the towers and on the ground, bows rose together with rifles. Ben pulled the tendon of his own bow, all the way to the ear. Closer the howling mass came, their rotten legs eating ground. Closer they came. Closer. "Loose!"
The snap of the bowstring was lost in the explosion of firearms, and a goosе-fletched hail streaked the sky as it arced out, plunged down into the horde. The infected fell. Ben saw them go down, trampled beneath the feet. Yet the tidal wave rushed on, closing holes and gaps, apparently undiminished.
There was no need to order another volley. A second followed the first as quickly as men could nock arrows and pull triggers, the third following behind, the fourth, the fifth. And the huge bellowing forms came on, crying in no language Ben understood, but crying for blood, human blood and flesh. The men crouching behind the stakes readied themselves, hefting their weapons.
Ben felt cold inside. He could see the ground behind the infected charge already littered with their dead and dying, yet it hardly seemed they were fewer. The arrows came into his hand smoothly. This time, he did not think the stakes would…
Not even slowing, the front rank of the infected horde ran onto the sharp stakes, faces contorted by fungus twisting with pained shrieks, howling as they were impaled, screeching and moaning to reach for fresh blood, driven down by more huge shapes of bloaters scrambling up over their backs, some of those falling among the stakes, replaced by more, always more. One last volley of arrows drove home at point-blank range, and then it was the spears and home-made polearms, thrusting at stabbing at towering forms covered in fungal armor, sometimes falling while the bowmen shot as best they could at the inhuman faces above their friends' heads, others shooting down from the towers as well, madness and death and earsplitting roars and screams and howls. Fire exploded all around, bringing a surge of light that quickly diminished as soldiers threw molotovs at the bloaters, the only effective way to kill them. The fire spread among them quickly, but it seemed it wasn't enough. Slowly, inexorably, the Jackson line bulged inward at a dozen places. If it broke, anywhere… They had to get inside or they'd die!
"Fall back!" Ellie bellowed. A bloater with a snout-like fungus of a faces, charred from the molotov, forced its way through the ranks of men, shrieking and striking with is thick arms, splitting bodies in two. Ben hit it with the arrow right in the head before it fell down on its kenes. William swung his axe, burying it deep in the head through the fungal armor, killing it. There was no point in using guns or bows at this range. "Fall back!" Noah Oliver went down, clutching a thigh with both arms as one runner chewed on it. Mark tried to drag him backward while awkwardly firing from his pistol. Miles swung his spear to defend his cousin Daryl who was jumped by a clicker from the back, mouth wide in a seemingly soundless shout. "Fall back inside the walls!"
Ben was not sure whether others heard and passed the order that Ellie kept shouting repeatedly from the tower, but slowly, one grudging step at a time, the humans moved back. William swung his bloodied axe, wide mouth snarling. Beside him, Peter Chang thrust his spear grimly; blood ran in his fringe of gray hair. Not enough to hold. Jackson men edged back, jostling around Ben. William and him now fought back to back, he slashed and stabbed with his machete. Back. To the west and east men had curved out from the defenses there to keep the infected from flanking them, those from the towers pouring arrows from up above. Not enough. Back.
Suddenly, a huge shape was trying to pull Ben out of the formation, trying to reach for his face. Ben struggled to bring his machete around, to fight hands the size twice of any human away from his neck. The huge runner twitched as William sliced its head off. Even as it collapsed atop Ben, spraying blood, William spun smoothly to run another infected through the middle.
Grunting with pain, Ben kicked his way clear. He barely rolled aside as a body slammed down where his head had been. Rotten, disfigured face snarling at him. No eyes, only clicks, clicks and clicks. Ruthlessly he swung his machete, chopping off the arms that reached for him, kicking it in the leg. As it fell, he buried the blade where the clicker's eyes should have been.
The gates closed shut when they retreated inside but the onslaught went on, their neverending numbers pounding at the wood trying to break in. Ben limped on his leg, he twisted it badly on the fall. Sentries continuously shot at the infected, but the infected didn't let up for a moment. Was there an end to them at all? Ben widened his eyes at the numbers of survivors around him. Why did so few of them fall back?
Mark, face painted by blood, stared blankly at the gate. Where was Noah? Miles and Daryl? They were missing too. Jesse's dad leaned on his spear, bleeding from his head. It didn't look like a bite wound, but still… William was sitting on the ground, catching his breath. His broad axe rested next to him bathed in blood. Several others were also there, but not even the half. Тhe people behind seemed too afraid to even approach them, staring at them with pale faces and held screams, hands over their mouths. Ben examined his arms, legs and torso, checking for bites, but he found none. William shook his head, gesturing he's fine as well. When he wanted to check on Mark, the gate collapsed when the bloater ran right through it. There was no time for a breather. Of course. There never was. The infected don't wait, they devour and destroy.
"To arms!" someone shouted and the battle continued on the ground. Humans fought back as hard as they could. Arrows swished through the air, fire devoured the infected and everything else it could touch. Bullets exploded into the fungal armors of the bloaters, hardly doing any damage. There were so many of them. Back to back, Ben and William fought together. Stabbing from below, Ben pierced the runner's head just about when it was about to jump him form the side. He wrenched the blade free in time to see farmer Joe's pitchfork stabbing through a throat of another clicker. It writhed away, seizing his jacket with its pale, rotten hand, but Maria calmly rested the barrel of her pistol against its head and fired. Another bloater lifted miss Grimrose into the air by her braid, mouth wide in a terrified scream as her daughters blasted it with arrows and rained with firepower. A faint hope, her daughter's screams intensified when she was split in two from her right shoulder diagonally to her waist, a monstrous display of bloater's strength.
All up and down the line, as far as Ben could see, the people and infected were there. Some of the infected were still on fire as they pressed forward to kill, to eat and infect. Women among the men, shoulder to shoulder; some no more than girls, but then, some of those "men" had never shaved yet. Some never would. Was there an end to them? The children! If they reached this deep into the settlement, there was no one to get the children out.
A boy, dark-haired lad who squeezed himself between bodies in this dance of death, seized Ben's arm. "Ben!" the boy shouted at him through the deafening din. "Ben!"
Ben tried to shake him off, then snatched him up kicking under one arm; he belonged with the other children on the rooftops. Split up, in tight ranks stretching from house to house, Miles and Julia and the others were shooting from their saddles, over the heads of the men and women.
"Ben! Please listen! John said somebody's attacking the horde!"
Ben was halfway to help William, hobbling on his bruised leg. The blacksmith stuffed his axe into the intestines of another runner before pulling back and in a circling motion sent the sharp end deep into its head. "Attacking them? Who?"
"I don't know, Ben. John said to tell you he thought he heard somebody shouting 'the night of the White Wolf'."
William grabbed Ben's arm, wordlessly pointing with his bloody axe. Ben turned in time to see a hail of arrows plunge into the infected outside the gates. From the north and the opposite side of the battlefield. Another flight was already rising toward the top of its arc.
"Go back to the other children," he said, sending the boy away. He had to be up where he could see, on one of the towers, "Go! You did well, kid!" he added as he ran awkwardly towards the tower, cutting his way through as best as he could. The little fellow scampered back into the deeper part of the settlement grinning. Every step sent a jolt of pain up Ben's leg, maybe the thing was broken. He had no time to worry about that.
Seizing the railing, Ben hauled himself up the tower where Ellie was shooting and shouting orders. And wondered if he was seeing what he wanted to see instead of what was really there. The Gypsies or the Wolves? Maybe both of them?
Beneath the walls where the field had been stood, bathed in blood and blackened corpses of the infected stood long rows of men in tattered clothes, shooting their bolts from the crossbows and arrows from their bows, plunging the projectiles into the horde's back methodically. In the center stood one man, taller than others, a true giant of a man. Black hair and long beard covered his face. Ben saw him only once, back in Seattle. It had to be Big Paul. It had to be. He stood there like a statues, eyeing the battlefield, until he shouted something Ben didn't hear and some of them ran forward. Some of the infected turned around to intercept Big Paul and his men, but it was useless. Even the infected who did turn went down before they covered fifty strides before they were shot down. It seemed as if it was the infected moving back now, then running in a frenzy in all directions. Shots fell from both sides once the Jackson's men had room to lift bows and rifles, too. It was a slaughter, but Ben hardly saw. What is Big Paul doing here?
It went on again, for how long Ben didn't know. But they fought. They fought their hearts out. They died to fight, to survive and to save their loved ones. It was a battle for the books. Ellie and some of the others got down from the towers, helping those on the ground. She fought alongside Ben, they fought for each other, just like they did in Seattle. They were winning!
The same boy appeared again. "Ben!" he shouted, to be heard above cheering now, men and women shouting for joy and relief as the last infected fell. Not many had, Ben believed, but he was barely able to think. The boy tugged at his sleeve. "Ben! John said to tell you the infected are broken. And they are shouting 'the night of the White Wolf'! Those men, I mean. I heard them!"
Ben bent to ruffle the boy's curly hair. "What's your name, kid?"
"James Walker. We may even be cousins, I think! Sort of, anyway. You are a Walker too, right?"
Ben squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Even when he opened them his hand still trembled on the boy's head, but he was laughing. Laughing at the silliness of it. "Well, cousin James, you tell everyone about today. When you have kids, tell them about tonight. Tell them."
"I'm not going to have any," James said stoutly. "Girls are horrible. They laugh at you, and they don't like to do anything worth doing, and you never understand what they're saying."
Ellie glared at him from the side then laughed. Her laugh was merry and cheerful. "I think one day you'll find out they're the opposite of horrible. Some of it won't change, but that will." Ellie. He could not stop looking at her, nor did he care if she'd think he was weird for that.
James looked doubtful, but then he brightened, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Wait till I tell others Ben Walker called me cousin!" And he darted away to tell his friends, who'd live for another day, too, and all the other kids who would. The sun was nowhere to be seen, meaning it was still dark. An hour. Maybe. It had all taken no more than an hour. It felt like a lifetime.
"That was really sweet." Ellie said to him, sighing and leaning on her rifle. She looked exhausted, deep, purple rings appearing slowly below her eyes.
Ben shrugged, "What a crazy kid. He rushed at me in the worst of fights, can you imagine?"
"Reminds you of someone, don't you think?" Ellie mocked him, pinching his arm. She was beautiful. So beautiful.
Cheering people made way for Ellie, whom Ben followed closely behind. She walked over a mound of dead infected as if she never noticed. Dead infected bristling with arrows carpeted the open ground, and here and there one of the Jackson's own lied down, some of them even unrecognizable. He saw none of it, too. He had eyes for only one thing. Ellie.
Abruptly he became aware of the dead infected all around him, like a black field full of feathered, weeds. He turned around. A slaughter yard and a shambles of corpses stretching for hundreds of paces in every direction. Crows already hopped across the ground already, and vultures soared overhead in a huge milling cloud. So many dead infected. Not enough to repay for Tom's death. Not enough, it would never be enough. Nothing could ever repay for that.
People were streaming out of the settlement, William limping too and using his long axe for a staff, Cat being hugged by her best friend Julia. Mark had blood on his face, and stared down on Noah's corpse below him. Old man Ron holding his raven in his arms, silently weeping for his old friend. Maria and John horses, with others riding close behind. Lea, her bright clothing painted red, spoke the silent prayer on her knees. Miss Grimrose's daughters were crying loudly for their mother, and farmer Joe with an arm around his wife, and his sons and daughters around him. More faces he did not know. Boys and girls running around them. They stood at the front of the gates, those who could still stand, facing the north. Big Paul appeared, walking slowly followed by his followers. Sullen mutters rose, but people moved aside to let them approach Ben and Ellie. The fact that the newcomers held their weapons down was a sign to let them pass. There were less of them than there were people from Jackson.
"Ben," Ellie's voice was insecure and low, she closed in towards him, her fingers resting on Joel's revolver. "Who is that?"
"I'll explain later." Ben said stepped forward past Ellie, noticing the way she was looking at him, using her eyes to tell him to be careful. People from Jackson stood behind him, a wall of men and women ready to shoot if necessary. Big Paul stood right there in front of the rest that gathered behind him, a terrifying sight, just as much as his followers with that crazy look in their eyes. Some of them were whispering and laughing at something, while others stood still and motionless. All of them had that murderous look in their eyes. Be remembered most of them. Keeping his gaze on the giant, he nodded. "Big Paul."
The giant smirked, "It's been a while, Ben Walker."
When the giant mentioned his name, others behind Ben stirred. By now, everyone knew Ben was away from Jackson and had just recently returned. He knew he was a topic of gossip talks all around the settlement. Everyone knew he was different now.
"It's been a while, yeah. What are you doing here?" his voice was ice.
Big Paul took his time to reply. He was never a fast talker. His dark eyes that looked like small caves examined the Jackson folk as if he anticipated danger. "When you left Seattle, the Wolves followed your tracks and we followed theirs."
"Why?" Ben felt all eyes on him, both from Jackson folk and Big Paul's men. Ellie the was hero of the day, but it depended on him what was going to happen next. He could feel their nervousness and anticipation, he could almost grab it in the air with his own bare hands. Jackson folk, whispering among each other, wondering about those strange men that saved them.
"We could not join the Firefly girl in the south." Ben sensed Ellie stirring behind him on the mention of 'Firefly girl'. "They despise us. We have no home, so we hunted. As many Wolves as we could." Big Paul's voice was deep as a canyon, everyone around him seemed to keep a safe distance from the man that towered above the rest. "You saved us back then, gave us our freedom. No one batted an eye when we were tortured, until you freed us of the shackles." He raised both of his thick arms, to prove to everyone that he wasn't shackled anymore, that he was a free man. "We still owe you our lives."
"I see." He said, eyes front on the former prisoners. Ben didn't know what to expect of the man. All of them were crazy in a way, too unpredictable. And you aren't?, Annabel giggled in his head, having returned after a while. "How did you know we needed help?"
Paul's face darkened even more, "We caught some of those that call themselves the Gypsies. They told us everything we needed to know."
"People nailed to the trees," he said, "Was that your doing?"
Big Paul nodded, a hint of a smile appearing on his face. Ben always thought that a man found joy in killing. If anything, he was made for it, considering his sheer size and strength of a boar. Then again, there were about thirty of them. Thirty mad-crazed killers. Perhaps it was just what we needed.
"Ellie." He said and turned over his shoulder, "I vouch for these men. Can they stay in the settlement?" Only when he asked he became aware that he asked Ellie and not Maria for the permission. Why? He was unsure, but it felt right.
Ellie stared forward at them, shot a glance at Maria then looked back at him. She was determined, her face calm and composed, just like her voice when she spoke, "Without them, we wouldn't be alive. They can stay, but for how long is to be discussed." Her words were met with approval from the rest of the Jackson folk. Maria smiled behind her, seemingly proud of younger girl. It was the decision that made the most sense. Big Paul and his men helped with the horde, but they were still strangers to the Jackson folk. The tensions seemed to ease up a little bit, which allowed Ben to breathe a sigh of relief. But he knew he had no time to rest. There was still something he had to do. Turning back towards Big Paul, he took a deep breath and asked, "Would you be interested in killing some more Wolves?"
Lips hidden by a full beard curled upward on Big Paul's face.
x
